Publised on 24/11/2022. Last Updated on 18/09/2024 by Richard
The easiest vegan nacho cheese you'll ever make! No need to boil carrots and potatoes! Silky smooth and so cheesy in minutes!
When I say that mine is the ultimate vegan nacho cheese, I mean it. For starters, the flavour is next level: cheesy, nutty and tangy, like a sharp cheddar. But guess what? It's also INSANELY easy to make. Idea for your vegan nachos, vegan tacos and even for your favourite vegan Mexican dips!
Most vegan nacho cheese recipes require you to boil down potatoes and carrots which then get blended into a gloopy sauce with a texture that doesn't even come CLOSE to nacho cheese. This recipe avoids all that faff and jumps straight to the flavour! Here's how!
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🧈 Vegan Nacho Cheese Ingredients
Before we can talk about HOW to make this vegan nacho cheese, we should talk about what goes INTO it. Ingredients are important, so let's give em some air time! Here's everything you'll need to get cracking!
- Carrots
- Soy milk
- Tapioca starch
- Cornstarch
- Pickled jalapeño brine
- Lime juice
- Chipotle paste (or canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce)
- Tomato puree (aka tomato paste)
- Nutritional yeast
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Fine sea salt
As always, the full recipe is at the bottom of the page - don't panic! Check there for quantities.
🥣 Method
Now, here's what makes this recipe special! The method behind my madness! It deviates from other vegan nacho cheese recipes quite dramatically, but it's easier and more fool-proof for it! I've broken the process down into 4 steps!
1. Blend the soy milk and carrots! When you boil carrots down before blending, you add a bunch of extra carrot flavour to your vegan nacho cheese. We're just going to blend them with our soy milk to give it an orange colour and slight sweetness. Use a nutmilk bag to remove the blended carrot bits!
2. Prepare the nacho cheese mix! Next we're going to return the golden milk to the blender but with a bunch of extra ingredients. Some starches, to help the sauce thicken, but mostly big bold flavour bomb ingredients like chipotle paste, nutritional yeast and even jalapeño brine from a jar of pickled jalapeños!
3. Cook the sauce down! This won't take long, promise! Just five mins of simmering and stirring and the starches will activate. The sauce will become thick but not gloopy. It should be a really glossy, smooth runny cheese sauce.
4. Serve! Your nacho cheese is now ready to serve! It's that easy! Keep it hot over a low heat before serving and pour over nachos, quesadillas or even in burritos! Live that nacho cheese fantasy!
🔄 Subs and swaps
Here's how to make nacho cheese that works for everyone! No matter their diet!
- Soy free - I always recommend using soy milk because it's so consistent, but feel free to use any plant milk for this recipe. It's essential though, that your plant milk is unflavoured and unsweetened.
- Vegan Butter - Don't fancy using vegan butter? Or perhaps you can't get hold of it? Vegetable oil should work just fine instead.
Let me know if you make any subs or swaps of your own - I'd love to hear how they turned out!
🍪 Vegan Nacho Cheese Uses
You're now the proud owner of a pot of vegan nacho cheese! So what next? Here are my fave things to use this delicious cheese sauce on!
- Nachos, obvs!! - Pair with my vegan sour cream and all your other fave toppings to create the perfect loaded nachos!
- Cheesesteak! - Looking for a spicier Tex-Mex take on my Vegan Philly Cheesesteak? Swap out the cheese sauce in that recipe for this nacho cheese!
- Jacked potatoes! - There's no better match! Jacket potatoes and nacho cheese! It's gotta be done!
And hey, if this vegan nacho cheese isn't for you, don't worry! You've got loads of other cheese options right here on SNV! Try my vegan mozzarella recipe, for beautiful mozz that melts and browns. Or you could try my vegan grateable cheese!
🔪 Equipment
Here's everything you'll need to make the best vegan nacho cheese, and what fun you're going to have while doing it! OOOh cheesy!
- Cheese grater
- High-speed blender or food processor
- Nutmilk bag
- Medium Bowl
- Silicone spatula
🤷♀️ Vegan Nacho Cheese FAQs
A: This vegan nacho cheese is made from soy milk, corn starch, tapioca starch and carrots, for colour! For creaminess I use vegan butter like Flora plant-based.
A: Velveeta is a processed cheese which is not vegan. It's made with milk and whey, both come from cows. A great alternative is this vegan nacho cheese.
Vegan Nacho Cheese
Equipment
- Cheese grater
- High-speed blender or food processor
- Nutmilk bag
- Medium Bowl
- Silicone spatula
Ingredients
- 2 carrots
- 480 ml soy milk
- 40 g vegan butter melted
- 3 tablespoon tapioca starch
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 3 tablespoon pickled jalapeño brine
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- 1 tablespoon chipotle paste or ½ a canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
- ½ tablespoon tomato puree aka tomato paste
- 4 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- Grate the carrots and place in the cup of a high-speed blender or food processor. Add the soy milk and blend or process for 1 minute or until the milk looks slightly golden in colour and the carrot is very finely blended.2 carrots, 480 ml soy milk
- Place a nut milk bag over a medium bowl and pour the milk through. Squeeze out all the milk into the bowl and discard the carrot pulp. Rinse out the blender and return the golden milk to it. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.3 tablespoon tapioca starch, 2 tablespoon cornstarch, 3 tablespoon pickled jalapeño brine, 1 teaspoon lime juice, 1 tablespoon chipotle paste, ½ tablespoon tomato puree, 4 tablespoon nutritional yeast, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, 40 g vegan butter
- Transfer the blended mixture to a medium saucepan and place over medium/low heat. Stirring constantly with a silicone spatula, heat the mixture until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. This will take around 5 minutes. The mixture should still be runny but should fall in ribbons.
- Serve the vegan nacho cheese while still hot. To reheat, stir in a few tablespoons of water and place over a low heat. Stir constantly until hot and smooth again.
Laura
I made this and it turned out amazing! I didn't even do the straining step. I just threw everything in my Vitamix and it still turned out silky smooth.
Luna
I remember how nacho cheese tastes. This sauce has a lot of elements of the "nacho" but lacks the "cheese". I will say the texture is cheese-like, but it's lacking something in flavour for me. To anyone still wanting to make this, leave out the carrots; they're superfluous.
Noelle
This has been my go to nacho cheese recipe since you published it. I don't mess with the carrots due to time and getting more things dirty in the kitchen and it still tastes amazing. Non-vegan friends also enjoyed it!
Greg
This is amazing! I didn't have high hopes because I had no tapioca starch which I knew would affect texture but went ahead anyway and it turned out really well!
It went thick enough with just the corn starch but would be more cheese like with the tapioca, I'll get some next time.
So nice to have a cheese sauce on nachos
CL
This recipe is so good and has become a favorite! I added some roughly chopped pickled jalapeños for extra kick and it was perfect for my preferred spice level. But it is delicious as-is. Thanks!
Panda
This was quick and easy to make and I happened to have just about everything for it. I'm allergic to yeast though so I found a list of some substitues and for umami taste it suggested porcini mushroom powder. I don't know if this is why but it came out gloomy rather than smooth runny ribbons. It also looks more like a bean dip no doubt from the brown of the mushroom powder. It isn't bad but definitely not a nacho cheese. I think I'll try it out with some pasta later.
If you have any other yeast substitute suggestions, I'm certainly looking for ideas. It is amazing how many things have yeast in them. It makes it hard to find dairy free items.
Sheri
Super easy to make and had all of the ingredients so was happy my spontaneous craving could be met. I used oat milk and it was delicious. Another cracking recipe!
Rebecca Martin-Witter
This is a beauty! My 4 year old declared it the best sauce ever. Will be making this again. A new family fave!
Corey
I don’t know if this is sacrilege but I made a half batch and ended up whipping up the Philly cheesesteak recipe and just smothered it in the sauce and ate the rest with a spoon! It’s so so good and the carrots make the color phenomenal!
Deborah Lindell
Delicious and so very easy. Thank you!!
Alice Humphrey
May you send this recipe to me please